Senator Collins Issues Statement On PRC’s Five-Day Delivery Advisory Opinion

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Washington, DC – The Postal Regulatory Commission today released an Advisory Opinion on the U.S. Postal Service five-day delivery plan. The Postal Service must obtain a Commission Advisory Opinion on any change in nationwide service it proposes. The Opinion found annual net savings to be an estimate is $1.7 billion versus the Postal Service’s savings estimate of $3.1 billion among other discrepancies

Senator Susan Collins, the Ranking Member of Senate Committee that oversees the Postal Service, issued the following statement.

“The PRC found that the Postal Service’s estimate of savings was inflated and points out that ending Saturday delivery would delay approximately a quarter of first class and priority mail. While cutting service would save the Postal Service money, it would also drive down the mail volume that is critical to maintaining its solvency.

“Moreover, the PRC exposes the Postal Service’s failure to even consider the likely harm to rural postal customers. Echoing my warnings, PRC Chairman Ruth Goldway acknowledged in her addendum to the Opinion that five-day delivery would ‘unfairly discriminate’ against rural postal customers. The Advisory Opinion raises many of the same questions that I have posed over and over. These consequences simply must be addressed before consideration of such a significant service reduction.”

In February, Senator Collins introduced legislation to help the Postal Service regain its financial footing as it adapts to the era of increasingly digital communications. The “U.S. Postal Service Improvements Act of 2011” would help the USPS achieve financial stability and future cost savings without undermining customer service.

2 thoughts on “Senator Collins Issues Statement On PRC’s Five-Day Delivery Advisory Opinion”

  1. To Frugal Above,

    I assume you have read the entire PRC advisory as well as the four addendums from the individual commissioners. If you have not, please do so and you will properly address your own “lack of knowledge”.

  2. Unfairly discriminate againt rural customer is a total lack of knowledge. The only possibility could be a remote Eskimo villiage in the artic region of Alaska.
    The rural areas in this country have all the modern conviences of city life such as electricity, phones, computers, transportation modern-vehicles, roads, shopping malls in nearby cities, medical facitiles local or nearby, entertainment locally or nearby city, schools, access to higher education. Rural mail delivery is provided all over the country same as city mail delivery.Customers receive mail in each area when mail addresses to their address. Eliminating Sat. mail delivery would have the same impact on each party: no mail city or rural. Where is the discrimination? Find more discrimination in private sector in serving rural areas than USPS in providing cost effective service to all in all areas.

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